The Gladiator Trailer

In the summer of 2000 a box office hit was released. “Gladiator” was a brilliant action film set in Ancient Rome, which appealed to over 15s from both genders. The film was hugely successful and raked in over $190,000,000 in the U.S box-office and $434,000,000 worldwide.

However the film wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as it was without the help of an exciting and gripping trailer to appeal to the target audience. Trailers are very important in the film industry because it’s the one chance film-makers have to attract their target audience. They try to choose clips which will appeal to their target audience and also makes the film-makers trailer more distinctive by including unique selling points (USPs). In this essay I’m going to look at exactly how the trailer influenced so many people to flock to the cinema to see this historical epic.

A teaser trailer is a short trailer which is used to tease a film’s target audience, so they are left unsatisfied wanting to know how the events unfold.

The “Gladiator” teaser trailer works well because the director, Ridley Scott, chose the right combination of action and romance scenes, and text which helps the audience to understand what’s happening. The trailer encapsulates all the best bits (USPs) in a little under two minutes.

In the trailer the colours change as the story begins to unfold. The first image of Russell Crowe dressed as a general has blue undertones which have been used to signify Germania as a cold and unwelcoming place. The undertones then become oranges and browns to represent Africa and his enslavement. The audience can tell he has been enslaved because the words “who became a slave” follow the shot of Africa. After that the colours chan...

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...his is because the audience will need to watch the whole thing in order to catch the name of the film. By using this hooking technique the viewer will take more notice of the action and drama.

The last frame of the “Gladiator” trailer says, “Summer 2000 A.D.” By using “A.D.” it is keeping with the Roman theme. The sound that accompanies this frame sounds like the slamming of the coliseum doors, which also carries on the Roman theme and is a dramatic way to end.

In conclusion I believe that the “Gladiator” trailer is successful because it is thrilling and hooks the target audience well with the variety of techniques and USPs. I also think that it works well as teaser trailer because the audience are left unsatisfied and craving for more. In addition the overall image of the trailer helps to convey what the games were really like in the Roman era well.